The 7 Essential Elements of Productivity
Element #5: Pressure

This is the third article in the series: The 7 Essential Elements of Productivity. Read the other articles here.

As much as I hate being pressured to do anything, nothing causes me to focus more in the moment and execute more effectively than an important and urgent deadline.

Right now, as I write this article, I have the E.gg timer ticking in the background of my browser, just waiting for me to admit defeat.

Photo Credit: nicksarebi

Though it seems true that some people thrive under pressure while others simply just panic, having a hard deadline on an important task is incredibly effective for EVERYONE — that includes you.

Why Pressure is Your Friend

Anyone who has survived high school, or especially college, knows how important deadlines are. After all, as a student, nothing is more pressing than the next homework assignment, test, or group project meeting.

In school, everything is on a timer. Every assignment to complete, class to attend, or after-school event to get involved with carries with it a series of deadlines for every conceivable reason.

I distinctly remember having a paper planner in high school where I would write down every homework assignment and task to complete on the day before it was due. In essence, I was creating enormous pressure for myself, because if I followed my schedule as written every day would be filled with extremely urgent activity.

Today, I live a little differently, but not by much.

There’s a reason this kind of system is effective — pressure is the ultimate motivation. When you have a strong reason to do something, you are compelled to act, especially if that reason matters to you.

Arbitrary Pressure

Fake pressure is real. Yes, it seems a bit ridiculous to think that if I set a timer for an arbitrary amount of time to write an article I will write faster, but it works every time.

The reality is that not all deadlines need to be real, some just need to exist at all.

Think about a task you have been procrastinating on, or a project you just can’t seem to finish. Now, assign yourself an aggressive, yet realistic, deadline and watch what happens.

My guess is that you will begin to think about how you could get this task done in the new timeframe.

When you don’t have a deadline or you simply don’t care about completing a task, the motivation for doing anything is nonexistent. However, when you have a deadline, even a fake one, you have a more tangible outcome to plan for.

Even if the deadline is arbitrary, the act of thinking about how you could complete your task faster causes your brain to start moving. You begin to make connections, get creative, and find new (and possible exciting) ways to get your task done.

Make Pressure Work For You, Not Against You

As I said, pressure can effect all of us in different ways, and different kinds of pressure can cause us to react very differently, depending on the scenario. Sometimes we get super excited right away and get to work, while in other circumstances we hide as long as possible, hoping the evil deadline will just miraculously disappear.

They key to pressure is making it work for you when you know it can. For example, through trial and error I have learned a few things about myself. I know that a timer causes me to write articles faster, exercise more efficiently, and wake up bright and early.

However, hard deadlines destroy my ability to explore, optimize my creativity, and fully relax.

Pressure can be a great thing, but not in every scenario. Over the years, and through many personal experiments, I have discovered when timers make a significant difference and when they just get in the way.

If you truly want to be more productive, and get things done more efficiently, pressure can be your best friend. If you simply want to calm down and let your mind wander, throw the timer in the closet and give yourself a well-deserved break.

Action Steps

1. Make a quick list of those pesky tasks that you know you have been avoiding.
2. Now, assign a deadline, any deadline, to each of those tasks.
3. Then, tackle each task, one by one, asking yourself HOW you could get that task completed by the deadline.
4. Put your new action steps into your task manager (I recommend Nozbe) and when it’s time to work, get to it.

In case you were curious, I wrote this article (the day before I published it) in 36 minutes thanks to the E.gg Timer.

Next Week

Next week on the blog I will be sharing the 4th essential element of productivity.